1. Find 5 hit songs that are similar to the one you want to write. They should be in the current Billboard top 100, in the top 100 all time rock or pop CDs or the top 5 hit songs of a certain artist that influences you.
You can be creative in picking the songs. What’s important is that the songs you choose have proven appeal to the audience you want to gain fans within. If you want to write a song for a film, pick tunes that may have never made it on the Billboard charts, but were themes to hit movies. If you want to appeal to college market, then look at the College Music Journal charts.
The idea is that certain songs use words, progressions and stories that people naturally and instinctively like more than others. As a songwriter you need to find out what those elements are exactly in order to be a success.
2. Get the lyrics and chord progressions to the tunes. Find them on the Internet, on CD sleeves, in sheet music or listen to the song and write them down.3. Make a list of words and small phrases that are in the song.
- To do this you can put the entire songs in a “cut up engine”. A “cut up engine” is software that randomly dissects the hit song lyrics into an unidentifiable bunch of words and phrases.
- Or you can visually go through each song and make a list of words and phrases on your notepad.
We’ll call the result of free-floating words and phrases your “Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary”. Don’t be concerned that you are stealing songs.
Words and small phrases are not copyrightable, only melodies and lyrics lines are.
No one can own the English language. Think of how many songs use the phrase “rolling stone’!
To add your own unique twist, what’s important is to choose words and phrases that you like and resonate with you personally. For instance, if you’re analyzing Nirvana’s Heart Shaped Box and the phrase “umbilical noose” is too extreme for you, then just don’t use it. Or instead of the whole phrase “magnet tar pit trap”, maybe you just like the word “magnet”. That will still work and you’ll find your own use for the word, so grab it!
Have fun with it. You can mix and cut up a Pink Floyd, Police and Nirvana tune if you want and you’ll come up with a very unique vocabulary that will still feel good to a rock fan. So you see how you can “steal” directly from famous proven artists but still come up with unique lines that you can copyright as your own? The more you do this you will see how these major recording artists ruthlessly do this in almost every song they write. That’s why the public loves them, and the fans don’t even realize it!
“Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary” ResourcesHere are some places to look for artists and songs with established fan appeal…
Top Artist and Hit Sites
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/classicrock1000.html
http://modernrock.com/charts/
http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2000/vh1rocksongs.htm
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songsddd.html
http://www.rock-songs.com/
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?g=Singles&f=Mainstream+Rock
http://www.woxy.com/music/mr500-05.php
Lyric & Chord Sites
http://www.azlyrics.com/ http://www.lyrics.com/ http://www.sing365.com/ http://www.chordie.com/
One way to create the Proven Rock Vocabulary is to put the lyrics in cut up software that you can find here…Cut Up Software Links
http://www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/v4/cutup/textinput.php http://www.languageisavirus.com/cutupmachine.html http://www.esoteric-sensationalism.com/
History of Cut Up Technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut-up_technique
These have a built in rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and many other convenient features that will cut down your songwriting time…All In One http://www.masterwriter.com/
Enter your PRLV songs in the cybernetic poet for some automatically generated lines to give you some thematic and lyrical inspiration…
We’ll use some Pearl Jam tunes with lots of radio play as examples to write an original song called “Picture of Clouds”.
Pearl Jam Song List Example
Alive
Jeremy
Black
Elderly Woman behind the Counter in a Small Town Daughter
Now that you have the songs, go through and pick out words and small phrases you think are cool and make a list. Or, stick the entire lyrics from all the songs in cut up software. You’ll get a list of great words that immediately create powerful images that are native to rock….
Pearl Jam PRLV ExampleA small set of the Pearl Jam–based “Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary”:
Child
God
Candle
Heart
Wicked
Hand
Whispering Butterflies Mother
Unleashed Alive
Picture
Memory
Haunting Dream
Recognize Mother
Starve
Roam
Survive
Porch
Sun
Fierce
Lion
Tattoo
Look through your Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary and see what kinds of stories and images come to your mind based on the words and small phrases you see in front of you. Once you have a few possible ideas in mind and then move to the next step. You will be surprised how fast you can come up with an idea for a song while looking at the basic words and phrases that make up the genre.
Keep a list of common rock themes from tunes that make up your PRLV so you can use them if you need some inspiration. For the Pearl Jam example it could be a vague idea like “Something about a troubled kid” and it may become clearer like the theme below as you write the lyrics in the next step:
“Picture of Clouds” Theme ExampleFrom glancing at the Pearl Jam PRLV I brainstormed a bit and thought of a story line that I thought was interesting and I knew a little about.
The relationship between a burdened mom and a gifted daughter
It’s similar to “Jeremy” which was a hit and therefore you know for sure it’s a story many people in your audience will relate to. But it’s different enough that the theme is still very much my own idea.
Coming up with a theme is a very important part of writing a great song quickly. It guides the writing of lyric lines. This formula demonstrates the idea…
Proven Rock Theme + PRLV = Super fast high quality lyrics
You should work off of themes and stories in established songs, but pick those that mean something to you and that you can relate to in some way. Then add a slight new angle to it.
For instance, say you want to write a song about “War” because this is something people have deep passionate feelings about and it’s a standard rock theme. The problem is you have never been in a war and don’t know anybody that has been in a war. So what do you write about then? Well, you could write about what you think it would feel like to be in a war. Or you could write about your respect for people who go to war to ensure your safety.
Here is a great example of an artist outright exploiting a popular theme. Prisoners throughout the US all thought Johnny Cash had been to prison because he wrote “Folsom Prison Blues”. At the time Cash wrote that song, he had never stepped foot inside of a prison! He wrote the song because he was thinking of how it would “feel” to be in prison. In the movie “Walk the Line” his Dad even makes fun of him for it. Well Cash laughed all the way to the bank because that song made him famous!
Writing Lyric Lines: 20 minutesPick and choose words and phrases directly from your Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary and use them to write every other line that fits with a basic story or theme. Write 5 sets of 2 sentence lyric lines. Many rock songs are abstract, and the song is not fully formed yet, so the lines don’t have to make perfect sense. These will eventually make up your verses, chorus and bridge.
Don’t repeat words from your PRLV in your songs, except for in the choruses which will be discussed later. There is a very good chance you will run out of words from your 5 song Proven Rock Vocabulary, so just go pick words and phrases from 5 more songs.
Choose two or three PRLV words and phrases at a time and let the theme you chose in the last step guide you to brainstorm a line that uses them. Keep fillers in mind to use and also throw in your own words.Over time, you’ll come to know instinctively many commonly used rock words that you can throw in to your lyric lines…
Example of some proven rock fillers
Baby, babe
Oh, ah, ooh
Sky
Lady
Life
Saturday, Sunday Black, red
God
No, no
Yeah
Man, woman
Child
Rain
Stars
California
Hey, hey
Girl
Day, night
Sea, ocean
Gold
USA, America
Fly
You will find many more recognized filler words after you have created a few different PRLVs. So now I wrote some lines using words from the PRLV and a few common words that I’ve learned are used in all rock songs like “Free” and “Sleep”. I use the theme I made up to write lines of a story. All the words in bold are from the Pearl Jam-based Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary or words that I have come across from other PRLVs…
“Picture of Clouds” Every Other Line ExampleThe child’s drawing God in candle wax
Line written later…
Whispering about butterflies to her Mom in the morning Line written later…
Nothing is free and you can starve alone
Line written later…
Willing to face things she can sleep without sinking
Line written later…
Now take the last word from every line you have written, and find a rhyming or close to rhyming word from the Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary or a rhyming dictionary and place that word underneath every other line.
You can also rhyme the second to last words of the songs, two words at the beginning and ending of a single line, words in every other or a sequential line, or any other way you can think of. The important thing is that your lines rhyme in some way. Ideally the last words of the lines should rhyme, but that’s not always possible when you’re trying to create a story, so try your best.
Important: You’re lines must rhyme in order for the melody to fall together naturally at the end of this process!! Also, audiences must hear rhymes to feel comfortable. Rhyming is not optional for commercial songs.
“Picture of Clouds” Rhyming ExampleFind a rhyming or similar sounding last word before writing the remaining lines…
Nothing is free and you can starve alone
…home
Willing to face things she can sleep without sinking …painting
It can all come together with a gentle touch …much
Nothing has been better since she arrived …survive
http://www.rhymezone.com/
http://www.rhymer.com/
http://www.writeexpress.com/online2.html
http://rhyme.poetry.com/
Then back fill the remaining 10 lines with sentences that make sense in the context of your story or theme. You will have written 5 sets of 4 lines. 3 of the sets will be verses. 1 of the sets will be your chorus and 1 will be your bridge.
“Picture of Clouds” 5 Sets of 4 ExampleAll the words in bold are from the Pearl Jam-based Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary or words that I have come across from other PRLVs. All the lines are based on the main theme…
The child’s drawing God in candle wax
Making finger paint hearts with tiny hands
Whispering about butterflies to her Mom in the morning Having breakfast with her daughter and in love with the story
Nothing is free and you can starve alone
Wed to her man and a place and a home
Willing to face things she can sleep without sinking And stay alive by thinking about her baby painting a Picture of clouds, picture of clouds
The little one plays violin like it was a memory inside The tune is haunting like a dream you can recognize Mother can hear her through the door and is proud Helping her mind escape from the debt and their town
It can all come together with a gentle touch No need to roam when you have so much Nothing has been better since she arrived Yeah life can happen and you do more than survive
On the porch coloring canvas with spinning suns The girl is fierce like a lion not yet unleashed on the world Far from things wicked and tattooed now she plays cello Mother surprises her with lemonade and Jell-o
Finally, fine-tune your lyrics to make some sense. You should give the listener an idea of a basic story or theme, but in rock most people like to read their own meaning into the song. Even if you were to spell out your story perfectly, most of the audience will interpret it their own way anyway. Be more concerned with getting across a theme, your lyrics sounding cool and interesting, and creating rock genre-based imagery than on making complete sense.
Structuring and Fine-Tuning the Song: 10 minutesLook at your five sets of lyric lines and normally one will jump out at you at the most interesting. This will be your chorus and your “hook”. If none of them seem cool or interesting enough to be “chorus-worthy”, it’s very important that you keep writing 4 line sets using the PRLV until you have one.
Then pick the most interesting short phrase, from the most interesting verse and repeat it a couple of more times at the end of the chorus, or before/after each line of the chorus. That’s exactly how I came up with “Picture of Clouds”. This short phrase or hook must also be the title of the song!!
Another 4 line set may jump out at you as a little different and this could be your bridge. Cut and paste the chorus after each verse. Cut and paste your bridge after the second chorus. Stick to the proven song form below or the form of one of the proven hit songs you chose to create your Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary:
Structuring Golden Rule:The choruses of great rock songs are always played and sung stronger, louder or higher than the verses. The bridge can go either way.
The Universal Rock Pattern
You may not like it, but it’s true that the vast majority of rock songs on the radio fall loosely into the following pattern in 4/4 time. But that’s just how things are.
In Jazz its Verse – Verse – Bridge - Verse
In Blues it’s the twelve bar blues repeated
And the standard progression in rock is…
Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus – Bridge – Solo – Verse – Chorus – Chorus
That’s it! Don’t be scared of it, just use it!
Yes, you may want to add an intro, outro and other riffs. But it is very important that you do that after the song is complete as discussed in the “Putting it All Together” section. Your song should not be based on a cool complicated riff, but on simple chords that anyone can play.
At this point you can also come up with an extra line or two or three at the very end of the song for adlibbing on the last chorus“Picture of Clouds” Fully Structured Example
The child’s drawing God in candle wax
Making finger paint hearts with tiny hands
Whispering about butterflies to her Mom in the morning Having breakfast with her daughter and in love with the story
Nothing is free and you can starve alone
Wed to her man and a place and a home
Willing to face things she can sleep without sinking And stay alive by thinking about her baby painting a Picture of clouds, picture of clouds
The little one plays violin like it was a memory inside The tune is haunting like a dream you can recognize Mother can hear her through the door and is proud Helping her mind escape from the debt and their town
Nothing is free and you can starve alone
Wed to her man and a place and a home
Willing to face things she can sleep without sinking And stay alive by thinking about her baby painting a Picture of clouds, picture of clouds
It can all come together with a gentle touch No need to roam when you have so much Nothing has been better since she arrived Yeah life can happen and you do more than survive
On the porch coloring canvas with spinning suns The girl is fierce like a lion not yet unleashed on the world Far from things wicked and tattooed now she plays cello Mother surprises her with lemonade and Jell-o
Nothing is free and you can starve alone
Wed to her man and a place and a home
Willing to face things she can sleep without sinking And stay alive by thinking about her baby painting a Picture of clouds, picture of clouds
The suns always shining, the stars are aligning In a picture of clouds
Finding a great chord progression is the easiest part of the whole process. You may not believe this at first… Chords progressions are not copyrightable, only melodies and lyrics lines are.
If they were, every blues artist in existence would be a criminal for using the 12 bar blues. When you get to know the very limited range of popular rock chord progressions you will understand. Feel free to use any chord progression from anywhere.
Just get the chords to the songs that formed your Proven Rock Lyric Vocabulary by figuring them out or getting them off the Internet. You can also use sites or books that list standard rock chord progressions. Use the progression as is, or put a small personal twist on the voicing or timing of the chords. However, keep the song in 4/4 and make sure most all chords start on the 1stor 3rdbeat. Here are your chord rules:
1. Use chord progressions from proven hit songs
2. Add a small personal twist
3. Keep the chords on the beat. No off or upbeat timing
4. Play most chords in open position or simple bar chords
5. Use 4/4 time
6. Stick to a moderate tempo
7. Only use 1 or 2 different progressions
Do not be afraid to use the same one progression for the entire song! Jimi Hendrix said “All I need is three chords and the truth”. “Little Wing” and “Hey Joe” are both only one progression through the entire song. At most use 2 progressions - 1 for the verse and 1 for the chorus. For the bridge just pick one of the two. Simple songs get covered by other artists more and are easier for an audience to understand and recognize as “the type of music they like”.
Examples of common rock chord progressionsWhy make your own chord progressions up when there are hundreds of proven progressions in hit songs that you can use? Coming up with an original progression is a waste of time and adds to the risk that it may sound too strange to your audience. Here is a few that have been reused by every rock artist from the Beatles to Pearl Jam:
E D A
D A E
A D G D E G A E D C
C Em F G C D F E
Standard rock progression site
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/lesson.html http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/rock.html http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/RBprogression.html http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/classicrock.html
Chords sitehttp://www.chordie.com/
For the sample song I saw the progression to Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” which is one long progression that is just repeated for the whole song:
Em G Am Em Bm Bb Am G F C D
I liked that idea and then I created the same kind of extended progression but using simpler chords that I saw in 2 different Pearl Jam tunes:
C E C E G F E G F E
6 Rules for Singing the Melody: 10 minutes
You’ll be surprised that when you have great rhyming lyrics and a killer rock chord progression and a solid song structure, the melody will fall into place easily…
Follow these 6 simple rules to come up with a melody for your song:
1. Don’t “write” a melody, just sing what comes to you after you have written lyrics and found a cool chord progression.
2. Sing the verse melody at the low end of your range, and sing the chorus melody at the high end of your range.
3. Sing the chorus stronger than the verse. The bridge can go either way but stronger works better.
4. You should be able to sing the entire tune on pitch and without straining in any way.
5. The melody should be very simple but with a slight twist.
6. Sing passionately and with conviction, but not forcefully and straining.
If your really stick to these rules, a great, natural melody will write itself!! For this method of melody creation to work, you must have come up with the lyrics and chords first as described in the previous steps.